Historical and theoretical perspectives

Public Health: Local and Global Perspectives presents a comprehensive introduction to public health issues and concepts in the Australian and international contexts. It provides students with fundamental knowledge of the public health field, including frameworks, theories, key organisations and contemporary issues. The third edition features a new chapter on the public health workforce and the importance of advocacy in the profession and a thorough update that includes current research and case studies. Discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic and other contemporary public health issues offers students the opportunity to apply theory to familiar examples. Each chapter contextualises key concepts with spotlights and vignettes, reflective questions, tutorial exercises and suggestions for further reading. Written by an expert team of public health professionals, Public Health is an essential resource for public health students.

Public Health: Local and Global Perspectives presents a comprehensive introduction to public health issues and concepts in the Australian and international contexts. It provides students with fundamental knowledge of the public health field, including frameworks, theories, key organisations and contemporary issues. The third edition features a new chapter on the public health workforce and the importance of advocacy in the profession and a thorough update that includes current research and case studies. Discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic and other contemporary public health issues offers students the opportunity to apply theory to familiar examples. Each chapter contextualises key concepts with spotlights and vignettes, reflective questions, tutorial exercises and suggestions for further reading. Written by an expert team of public health professionals, Public Health is an essential resource for public health students.

Public Health: Local and Global Perspectives presents a comprehensive introduction to public health issues and concepts in the Australian and international contexts. It provides students with fundamental knowledge of the public health field, including frameworks, theories, key organisations and contemporary issues. The third edition features a new chapter on the public health workforce and the importance of advocacy in the profession and a thorough update that includes current research and case studies. Discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic and other contemporary public health issues offers students the opportunity to apply theory to familiar examples. Each chapter contextualises key concepts with spotlights and vignettes, reflective questions, tutorial exercises and suggestions for further reading. Written by an expert team of public health professionals, Public Health is an essential resource for public health students.

SPECIALTY GRAND CHALLENGE article Front. Public Health, 18 July 2013Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2013.00020

Regional Public Health Training Centers: An Essential Partner in Workforce Development.

The complex nature of contemporary public health issues requires a multidisciplinary public health workforce, including professionals from various backgrounds who have been sensitized to the public health approach. In many countries, the field has traditionally been led by medical doctors who undergo further training in preventive branches of medicine such as epidemiology, hygiene, social medicine, biostatistics, or more recently, Global and One Health. Other countries have separate public health education programs independent of medical studies, offering various graduate and postgraduate courses. Over the years, efforts have been made to define the essential skills of public health professionals, led by organizations like the World Health Organization and the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER). These competencies continue to expand, necessitating more investment in public health infrastructure and training. The current lack of recognition, competitiveness, and appeal of a career in public health is leading to a restriction of the necessary build-up of qualified professionals. Many countries anticipate a shortage of public health workers due to an aging workforce, increased demand, and difficulties in attracting and training new professionals (3). The COVID-19 pandemic and severe climate events highlight the crucial role of the public health workforce in effective disaster management and preparedness, prompting decision-makers to take notice. It is the responsibility of the public health community to lead this effort and shape the future of the profession. Lessons from the last decades transfer to us several key points underlining the need for improved communication skills as well as the need for enhanced public health brokering roles for decision-makers and the general public.

Strategies for Enhancing Governmental Public Health Workforce Well-being and Retention.

IntroductionRecent UK health policies identified nurses as key contributors to the social justice agenda of reducing health inequalities, on the assumption that all nurses understand and wish to contribute to public health. Following this policy shift, public health content within pre-registration nursing curricula increased. However, public health nurse educators (PHNEs) had various backgrounds, and some had limited formal public health training, or involvement in or understanding of policy required to contribute effectively to it. Their knowledge of this subject, their understanding and interpretation of how it could be taught, was not fully understood.MethodologyThis research aimed to understand how public health nurse educators’ professional knowledge could be conceptualised and to develop a substantive theory of their knowledge of teaching public health, using a qualitative data analysis approach. Qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews (n=26) were conducted with eleven university-based PHNEs.ResultsIntegrating public health into all aspects of life was seen as central to the knowing and teaching of public health; this was conceptualised as ‘embodying knowledge’. Participants identified the meaning of embodying knowledge for teaching public health as: (a) possessing a wider vision of health; (b) reflecting and learning from experience; and (c) engaging in appropriate pedagogical practices.ConclusionThe concept of public health can mean different things to different people. The variations of meaning ascribed to public health reflect the various backgrounds from which the public health workforce is drawn. The analysis indicates that PHNEs are embodying knowledge for teaching through critical pedagogy, which involves them engaging in transformative, interpretive and integrative processes to refashion public health concepts; this requires PHNEs who possess a vision of what to teach, know how to teach, and are able to learn from experience. Their vision of public health is influenced by social justice principles in that health inequalities, socioeconomic determinants of health, epidemiology, and policy and politics are seen as essential areas of the public health curriculum. They believe in forms of teaching that achieve social transformation at individual, behavioural and societal levels, while also enabling learners to recognise their capacity to effect change.

Background International collaborations are valuable yet often undervalued assets that enhance the quality of public health education and bolster the development of the public health workforce. Objectives The Humphrey Fellowship Program, part of the Fulbright Exchange Program, facilitates mid-career professionals’ visits to US-based host universities for an academic year. Fellows engage in a semi-structured fellowship period to achieve self-defined goals, emphasizing professional development, expanded experience, and intercultural exchange. This study advocates for the program’s contribution to enhancing public health education. Results Currently, two universities host fellows in public health. Over decades, fellows have engaged with faculty and professionals, participated in classes and meetings, visited institutions for development purposes, and completed US-based affiliations, contributing significantly to their own and the public health workforce’s advancement. This interaction-based learning approach aids in navigating social and ethical challenges by fostering a deeper understanding of public and global health issues across countries. Conclusions The Humphrey Fellowship Program in public health stands as a commendable model. Similar initiatives could be beneficially replicated in the European region, leveraging local and global successes to strengthen ties with public health education institutions, student communities, and beyond. Key messages • Programs that facilitate international interactions can enhance public health professionals’ understanding of global perspectives. • The Humphrey Fellowship Program in the US stands as a commendable practice for mid-career public health professionals, contributing significant value to the education at host universities.

Discipline-specific workforce development initiatives have been a focus in recent years. This is due, in part, to competency-based training standards and funding sources that reinforce programmatic silos within state and local health departments. National leadership groups representing the specific disciplines within public health were asked to look beyond their discipline-specific priorities and collectively assess the priorities, needs, and characteristics of the governmental public health workforce. The challenges and opportunities facing the public health workforce and crosscutting priority training needs of the public health workforce as a whole were evaluated. Key informant interviews were conducted with 31 representatives from public health member organizations and federal agencies. Interviews were coded and analyzed for major themes. Next, 10 content briefs were created on the basis of priority areas within workforce development. Finally, an in-person priority setting meeting was held to identify top workforce development needs and priorities across all disciplines within public health. Representatives from 31 of 37 invited public health organizations participated, including representatives from discipline-specific member organizations, from national organizations and from federal agencies. Systems thinking, communicating persuasively, change management, information and analytics, problem solving, and working with diverse populations were the major crosscutting areas prioritized. Decades of categorical funding created a highly specialized and knowledgeable workforce that lacks many of the foundational skills now most in demand. The balance between core and specialty training should be reconsidered.

Every day in communities across the nation, our public health system and public health workforce are striving to help everyone get and stay healthy.Our public health workforce has worked overtime during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect our communities, and while we are grateful for the temporary emergency funding provided by Congress to help state and local health departments, we know that we must ensure our public health system and workforce

The public health (PH) workforce shortage poses a significant threat to the US population. Despite an increase in PH programs attracting students, there is a need to enhance diversity within local and state PH departments. While internships are recognized as valuable entry points into the PH field, research on the effectiveness of such pathway programs for recruiting diverse candidates is limited. Sponsored by the Connecticut (CT) Department of Public Health and supported by the CDC Crisis Response Cooperative Agreement: COVID-19 Public Health Workforce Supplemental Funding, the CT Public Health Fellowship Program (PHFP) aims to generate interest in PH careers by placing students in high-quality fellowship positions in CT. Third- or fourth-year undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in PH programs receive administrative support, one-on-one coaching, orientation, and a $3500 stipend to facilitate their internships. From January 2023 to May 2024, 97 out of 205 applicants were admitted to the PHFP. Acceptance was on a rolling basis, accommodating academic schedules, personal limitations such as work/family obligation or transportation access, and host agency capacities. We analyzed program data from PHFP applications. Chi-square tests and t-tests were conducted to assess differences between PHFP fellows and non-fellows. The results were not statistically significant. Additionally, fellows were compared to a representative sample of PH students from the US, New England, and CT. The PHFP has a strong potential to help replenish and diversify the PH workforce and enhance health equity. Future research should examine the long-term impacts of such PH experiential learning initiatives on a large scale.

Undergraduate public health education: a workforce perspective.

In the second edition of The New Public Health, authors Tulchinsky and Varavikova present a comprehensive overview of the evolution of public health and health issues. Their book succeeds in introducing the broad areas of this expanding field as they seek to balance traditional concerns for populations with more modern concerns for individuals and human rights. One of the main strengths of this text is the authors‟ coverage of many contemporary public health topics, such as specialized communities, which include the mentally ill, homosexual men and women, immigrants, and Native Americans. However, the authors provide very limited criticism of prior mishaps in public health and little emphasis on health promotion, a major component of current approaches. Instead, there is an overemphasis on an epidemiological perspective of many public health topics. Admission of failures to address certain issues adequately, a more robust presentation of the premises of health promotion, and more attention to ecological models of disease prevention would have strengthened the second edition of The New Public Health. Perhaps the authors will include these dimensions of the 21st century in subsequent editions of their valuable book.

A strong public health workforce (PHW) is needed to respond to COVID‐19 and public health (PH) issues worldwide. However, classifying, enumerating, and planning the PHW is challenging. Existing PHW taxonomies and enumerations focus on the existing workforce, and largely ignore workforce competition for public health graduates (PHGs). Such efforts also do not utilize real time data to assess rapid changes to the employment landscape, like those caused by COVID‐19. A job postings analysis can inform workforce planning and educational program design alike. To identify occupations and industries currently seeking PHGs and contrast them with existing taxonomies, authors matched existing PHW taxonomies to standardized occupational classification codes, then compared this with 38,533 coded, US job postings from employers seeking Master's level PHGs from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020. Authors also analysed 24,516 postings from March 2019 to October 2019 and compared them with 24,845 postings from March 2020 to October 2020 to assess changing employer demands associated with COVID‐19. We also performed schema matching to align various occupational classification systems. Job postings pre‐COVID and during COVID show considerable but changing demand for PHGs in the US, with 16%–28% of postings outside existing PHW taxonomies, suggesting labour market competition which may compound PHW recruitment and retention challenges.